Darul Uloom Deoband has ruled that talaq (divorce) given in a state of drunkenness is valid. A fatwa to this effect was issued by Darul Ifta (Fatwa Department) of the Islamic seminary on March 13.

The ruling was issued on a question from a concerned brother on February 21, 2012. He wanted to know from Darul Ifta about the fate of his sister's marriage in the backdrop of his drunk brother-in-law telling her main tumko talaq deta hoon, talaq, talaq, talaq (I give you talaq — talaq talaq talaq).

The woman came to know some time after her marriage, which took place about two and half years ago, that her husband was a drunkard.

The couple have no children. Recently, the husband, in a drunken state, uttered ‘talaq' thrice over the mobile phone, the woman's brother complained, adding, his brother-in-law was regretting what he had said.

In the light of the Shariah, was his sister's marriage still valid?

The Darul Ifta said: “In case the question is correct, three talaqs took place [on your sister] and the woman became haram [illegal] for her husband. She cannot remarry her husband without a valid halalah [just] because talaq takes place by mobile and in a state of drunkenness.”

Laying down the condition for a re-marriage, the Darul Uloom said: “After the completion of the iddah period, a divorced woman should marry someone else. If the second husband dies or divorces her after the marital rights, she can remarry after completing the iddah period.”

When contacted, Ittehad-i-Millat Council president Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, who belongs to the rival Barelvi school, defended the Darul Uloom fatwa.

“Qanoon-i- Shariah cannot change; whether talaq is said in an inebriated state or in a normal state, it was talaq.”

The Maulana likened talaq to a pathar (stone) and nikah (marriage) to a sheesha (glass), and said if a “stone is thrown at the glass, the glass will break.”